Apparatus for handling package carriers



April 15, 1941- H. s. DRUM EIAL 2,233,633

"APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PACKAGE CARRIERS Filed Oct. 19, 1939 5Sheets$heet 1 INVENTOR'.

Patented Apr. 15, 1941 APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PACKAGE ABRIERS Harry S.Drum and William C; and William H. Jaxheimer,

Dodson, Abington, Philadelphia, Pa

assignors to Smith, Drum and Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a. corporationof Pennsylvania Application October 19, 1939, Serial No. 300,168

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to yarn package handling apparatus andmore particularly to a package carrier arranged for association with anovel supporting truck.

In the handling of carriers of the type mounting a plurality of yarnpackages it has heretofore been the general practice to locate thepackage carrier in the dye vat with .the spindles of the packages in avertical position and after the dyeing or other treating operation toremove the vation in part section of a modified form of the inventionshowing in full lines the loading position and in dotted lines theposition for carrier I assembly; and Fig. 7 represents a section on linecarrier and place it on a support with the packages in the same relativeposition as when in the vat, namely, with all spindles still verticallydisposed with the present day carriers of large capacity holdinghundreds of packages, and with three to four packages on each carrierspindle it is exceedingly difficult to remove and replace the packages,With these large diameter carriers it becomes almost impossible for theoperator to reach the packages nearest the center of the carrier withoutdanger of injury to his arm from the exposed sharp threads in the end ofeach spindle,

or without danger of bending the spindles through bodily contact.

Some of the objects of the present invention are to provide an improvedmethod of handling carriers of yarn packages; to provide an apparatusfor handling carriers of yarn packages wherein the foregoingdisadvantages are overcome; to provide an apparatus wherein provision ismade for ready access to any package on a yarn package carrier withoutinterfering with any adjacent packages; to provide an apparatus whereinthe centrally located yarn packages on a carrier are brought in positionfor removal with equal facility to those furthest from the center; toprovide means whereby a yarn package carrier can be shifted from itsnormal plane of operation into another plane convenient for yarn packagereplacement; to provide a carrier locking means for retaining thecarrier in yarn package replacement position; and to provide otherimprovements as will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 represents an end elevation of acarrier handling truck embodying one form of the present invention andshowing one form of package carrier mounted thereon in position for thereplacement of the yarn packages; Fig. 2 represents a side elevation ofthe same; Fig. 3 represents a sideelevation of the truck with a carriersuspended above ready for placing thereon; Fig. 4 represents a sectionaldetail of one form of carrier locking means; Fig. 5 represents a detailin section of the mounting for the locking arm; Fig. 6 represents a sideele- 'I--1 of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings one form of the present invention consists ofa wheeled truck ill for association with and support of a carrier of thetype having spindles II for respectively mounting wound packages of yarnI2. As here shown the carrier has a hollow disc body it! arranged tosupport the spindles II at opposite sides thereof, each spindle beingconstructed to communicate with the interior of the body [3 forcirculating treating liquid through the yarn packages I2 on therespective spindles. A pipe ll extends axially from the body I3 and hasa tapered end ii to form a leak proofjoint with the enacting seatprovided in the vat which is designed to receive the carrier, Theoppositie side of the body I3 carries an axially disposed post ii of alength greater than that of the spindles, in order that its free end isaccessible to attach'a hoisting mechanism. As shown the end of the postI6 is circumferentially grooved to form a head I! having a truncated endface, and therefore when the gripping jaws l8 on the hoist chain 20grasp the head l1, the carrier can be suspended for movement from oneposition to another through the overhead trolley of which the chain 20forms a part.

In order'to support the carrier when released I from the jaws l8, twodiametrically located trunnions 2i are welded or otherwise made last tothe body i3 and serve as rotatable supporting means to respectively seaton suitable supports.

For the purpose of supporting the carrier and allowing it to becontrolled in accordance with the present invention, the truck III isformed with two vertical standards 22 so spaced apart as to receive thebody l3 oi the carrier therebetween and allow the trunnions 2| torespectively seat in suitably shaped bearing sockets 23 in the ends ofthe respective standards 22, Thus when the carrier is lowered by thehoist into position between the standards 22, the trunnions 2| thensupport the carrier after the hoist jaws [8 are released. When soinitially supported the package spindles H are still in the normal,vertical position but by reason of the trunnion action the carrier cannow be swung to a position where the spindles II are disposedhorizontally. Thus in the new position an operator can stand in front ofthe assembly of packages and remove and rebearings on the standards 22.tion has been reached the hoisting mechanism is 21 for manual releasewhen-necessary. The cap 7 24 is fast to the upper end of an arm 28 whichis mounted for limited swing action on a brace rod 30 of the truck Ill.Thus the lower end of the arm 28 joins a tubular sleeve 3| which isrotatable on the rod 30. A stop 32 projects from the arm 28 to ride in alimit slot 33 formed in a housing 34 fixed to the rod 30. This allowsthe arm 28 to swing outwardly only far enough to remove the cap 24 fromthe head l1, and is thus kept out of the operators way.

In operation the carrier may be supported by an overhead hoist in whichgripping jaws l8 engage the head I 1 and suspend the carrier in ahorizontal position with the package spindles vertically disposed. Thisis the manner in which the carrier is lowered into the vat for dyeing orother treating operations and is removed therefrom. At the end of atreating operation the carrier is broughtby the overhead trolley into anoverhead alined relation to the truck and is then lowered so that thetrunnions 2i seat in the When this posireleased and the carrier is thenswung to the position where the post I6 is horizontally disposed and inposition for registry with the cap 24. This latter is then swungforwardly on its arm 28 and the detent 25 drops into place back of thehead H to thereby lock the carrier in position while it is being loadedand unloaded.

While in the foregoing a package carrier is shown, the invention is notlimited in this respect as various other types of carriers can be usedto carry out the underlying method. Thus the method devised includes asa novel step changing the axial relation of the package spindles from avertical to a horizontal position or vice versa during the handling ofthe carrier. In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 6 and 7 thetruck 35 is a three legged type supporting a centrally disposed rigidcolumn 36- which terminates in a bifurcated head 31. Pivotally mountedbetween the forks of the head 31 is a bracket arm 38 carrying anintegral tubular elongated housing 40 provided with a somewhat enlargedreceiving end 4|. This housing 40 carries as a rigid component partthereof, an axially disposed stem or shank 42 and a portion of whichprojects from the housing for telescopic engagement with the pipe l4 ofthe package carrier. This projecting portion is of a size and shape tofit properly within the pipe I 4 and extending well through the carrierbody so that the latter is entirely stable when assembled in the shank42. As shown in full lines the weighted housing 40 is in the position tohold the carrier with the spindles ll horizontal while in dotted linesthe housing is shown in position for removing a carrier therefrom orplacing a carrier thereon.

In order-to prevent axial displacement of the carrier when in loadingposition, the pipe I4 is particular type of provided with a flange 43arranged to seat back of a locking member 44 which is fixed to the head31 in correct relation for proper cooperation with the flange 44. Thusas the housing swings from a vertical axis to a horizontal axis with acarrier on the shank 42, the flange 43 will seat back of the member 44and thus prevent axial movement of the pipe l4 relative to thehousingthereby ensuring interconnected relation between the support andcarrier while the latter is being loaded or unloaded.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In an apparatus for handling carriers for yarn packages, thecombination of a carrier having a disk body, and a plurality of yarnpackage spindles projecting from opposite sides thereof, means forattaching an overhead-hoist thereto to raise, move and lower saidcarrier with said spindles vertically disposed, a device for supportingsaid carrier, and means for rotatably and removably mounting saidcarrier on said device to swing about a horizontal axis, whereby saidspindles can be positioned horizontally for loading and unloading andvertically for yarn dyeing.

2. In an apparatus for handling carriers for yarn packages, thecombination of a carrier having a disk body and a plurality of yarnpackage spindles projecting from opposite sides thereof, means forattaching an overhead hoist thereto to suspend said carrier with saidspindles vertically disposed, a device for supporting said carrier,means for rotatably and removably mounting said carrier on said deviceto swing about a horizontal axis, and means to lock said carrier to saiddevice.

3. In an apparatus for handling carriers for yarn packages, thecombination of a carrier having a disk body and a plurality of yarnpackage spindles projecting from opposite sides thereof, means forattaching an overhead h'oist thereto to raise, move and lowel. saidcarrier with said spindles vertically disposed, a truck, standards onsaid truck for receiving said carrier therebetween, and means on saidcarrier coacting respectively with said standards for rotatably mountingsaid carrier to swing about a horizontal axis, whereby said carrier canbe positioned with said yarn spindles horizontally disposed for loadingand unloading packages and vertically for yarn dyeing.

4. In an apparatus for handling carriers for yarn packages, thecombination of a carrier having a disk body and a plurality of yarnpackage spindles projecting from opposite sides thereof, means forattaching an overhead hoist thereto to raise, move and lower saidcarrier with said spindles vertically disposed, a truck, standards onsaid truck for receiving said carrier therebetween, means on saidcarrier coacting respectively with said standards for unloading packagesand vertically for dyeing, and means to lock said carrier to said truck.

5. In an apparatus for handling carriers for yarn packages, thecombination of a carrier having yarn package spindles projectingtherefrom,

said carrier for respectively seating in said bearmgs to rotatably mountsaid carrier to swing about a horizontal axis, whereby said carrier canbe positioned with said yarn spindles horizontally disposed for loadingand unloading.

6. In an apparatus for handling carriers for yarn packages, thecombination of a carrier having yarn package spindles projectingtherefrom, a truck, standards on said truck for receiving said carriertherebetween, means for mounting said carrier in said truck to swingabout a horizontal axis, an arm pivoted to said truck, and means forlocking said carrier to said arm with said spindles horizontallydisposed for loading and unloading.

HARRY S. DRUM. WILLIAM C. DODSON. WILLIAM H. JAXHEIMER.

